Aortic Graft at Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery as a Source of Human Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells

One of the serious obstacles of the aortopathies research is a considerable shortage of human aortic smooth muscle cells (SMCs), which can be used to model the disease. SMC in most cases come from the whole aorta of transplant donors, which are rather difficult to access. In the course of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, a fragment of aortic tissue is excised to make a bypass root. In this study, we show a possibility to use CABG leftover fragments of thoracic aorta as a source of human SMC for in vitro research. We isolated SMC from the fragments of aortic tissues obtained during CABG procedure and compared these cells to the cells that were isolated from aortic tissue of transplant donors. The content of key SMC contractile markers (SMA, SM22α, and vimentin) as well as proliferation and migration rates, metalloproteases MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities were similar in CABG-derived SMC and in transplant donor-derived SMC. In conclusion, leftovers of ascending thoracic aorta obtained during CABG can be used as a source of human aortic SMCs for in vitro research.